A.bivittatum Funge male. Photo Courtesy of Ed Pürzl

A.bivitatum Funge female. Photo Courtesy of Ed Pürzl

Two Striped - bi = Two, vittatus = Striped. This characteristic is found more markedly on females.

Löennberg 1895. Fundulus bivittatus

Notes on Fishes collected in the Cameroons by Dr. Y. Sjöstedt.

Öfversigt Kungl. Svenska Vetenskaps Akademiens Forhandlinger 3, Stockholm, 52, pages 190-191.

Paul Arnold also wrote descriptions in Bl.Aq.Terr. 1908, p653, figures, & Woch.Aq.Terr. 1911, p601, figures.

5 cm. Total lengths of 9 cm have been recorded which included the long filaments to the caudal fin.

• D = 12, A = 14, ll = 26 (Lönnberg 1895)
• D = 10-13, A = 12-15, ll = 25-28 (Radda & Pürzl 1987).

n = 15 - 18 A = 20 - 23 (Scheel 1990)

In 1968 (ROTOW 1) Scheel reported:-
n = 18 (26) for a form collected east of the River Ndian & n = 15 (20) for a form west of the River Ndian.

Chromaphyosemion

A.bivittatum

• Fundulus bivittatus Lönnberg 1895
• Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) bivittatus Myers 1924
• Fundulopanchax bivittatus var. Blau Meinken 1930
• Fundulopanchax bivittatus var. coerulea Meinken 1930
• Fundulopanchax var. coeruleus Beyer 1932
• Aphyosemion bivittatum hollyi Myers 1933
• A.hollyi Myers 1933
• Aphyosemion bivittatum Scheel 1968 (in part)
• Aphyosemion hollyi Huber 1977

• Akamkpa
• Benin
• Biafra
• Calabar
• Fungé
• Fungé C 91
• Fungé C 92
• Fungé CI 98
• Fungé 4 / 2000
• Hollyi type
• Ikang NA 04-3
• Kwa River Falls Plantation
• Mundemba (Ndian River) C 91
• North of Calabar
• Satom River 3
• CMM 48

Biafra -

Fungé - First imported into the BKA by SIC in July 1980.
Horst Gresens made regular trips from 1984 to the biotope & returned with fish. This location is on the road from Ekondo Titi about 100 metres behind the last houses in the village of Fungé. This is on the right into a swampy area & extends some 60 metres into the rainforest/bush. The location is reached by passing the swamp on the right & crossing a hill through the scrub. A.bivittatum are found on an inflow to the swampy area.

Kwa River Falls Plantation - Collected by Wildekamp & Cooijmans in 1990 at Oil Palm Plantage. This is 20 kms north of Calabar.

A rivulet near the waterfall on the Ndian River.
Boulenger gives Calabar, Cameroon as the type locality. Types in the Stockholm Museum.

The low coastal plain on either side of the Nigeria / Cameroon border. They have been found in the lower tributaries of the Ndian River & also in some small coastal rivers.
Found on calcareous sediments. Thought to have a restricted range.

The eastern border appears to be the population from Funge. This frontier population borders with A.volcanum. Cameroon populations are considered more colourful than those found in Nigeria. Western populations have been found with more orange in the caudal fin replacing the usual blue found in Funge.

Brooks & small streams, some being brackish. They have been collected in well shaded pools which were rich in vegetation & animal life. In 'A World of Killies Vol 1' by Ruud Wildekamp it is stated that they are found in streams flowing over calcium bearing soils.
In nature the habitats are fairly constant in temperature (24-26°C), pH 6, DH 1.

Sympatric sp. include:- A.calliurum, A.scheeli, Fp.sjoestedti, Fp.gardneri, E.grahami, E.sexfasciatus (group), Procatopus similis.

Members of the sub-genus Chromaphyosemion can be difficult to identify without first studying the individual colouration of each species.
A.bivittatum can be seperated in the un-paired fin extensions which are yellow/orange. Many populations lack the dark stripes in the male, although the Funge population shows this marking quite clearly. Individuals from the Biafra population do not show this marking in the males.
It is not possible to give an accurate colour description of these fish as colouration not only varies between populations but from individuals within the same population. It has been said that colouration varies depending on the mood of the fish & this seems to be correct to a point.

A vertical bar in the caudal fins can often seperate this species from others in Chromaphyosemion. This can sometimes appear as 2 spots on top of each other.

Originally described by Lönnberg in 1895 as Fundulus bivittatus. The Type specimen (a female) was caught by Y.Sjöestedt in a small brook near Mundemba near a waterfall on the Ndian River.

In 1903 Bates collected this sp. & sent 15 specimens preserved to Boulenger in London for identification. Boulenger described these as Fundulus loennbergi.

First imported into Europe by the firm Siggelkow from Hamburg in 1908. Arnold most likely used these in a description in the German magazine 'Blättern' as F.loennbergi from Warri, Nigeria. Meinken used this material for his description of Aphyosemion multicolor in 1930. Also mentioned were Fundulus arnoldi & F.gularis 'Yellow'.

Meinken, in 1930, had a strain from a commercial import thought to have been collected in the Calabar region of southeast Nigeria. He thought differed sufficiently enough to describe them as a new species which he did & named them Fundulopanchax bivittatus var. coerulea. The fish in circulation at this time as bivittatum were in fact bitaeniatum as we know them today. Myers found the name 'coerulea' to be already occupied & renamed them Aphyosemion bivittatum hollyi in 1933.

In 1974 P.Winter collected bivittatum from the type locality. These were distributed & may be the source of the fish in captivity in more recent years being circulated as 'hollyi'.

Boulenger lists these collectors/contributors in Freshwater Fishes of Africa:

• 1-5. Collected by G.L.Bates, Kribi River, southern Cameroon.
• 6-15. Collected by G.L.Bates in tributaries of the Lobi River, southern Cameroon.
• 16-17. Collected by Mr. B. Schröder in the Banaberi Swamps, inland of Duala, Cameroon.
• 18-19. Material donated by J.P.Arnold in Old Calabar

This sp. has, in the past, been distributed as A.bitaeniatum & A.bivittatum hollyi. The later is invalid but A.bitaeniatum as shown by Huber in Killie Data 2000 is now a valid sp. (see A.bitaeniatum).

The population from Funge was collected in 1978 by the German aquarist Armbruster.

This sp. is a typical top spawner laying eggs in floating mops & plants.
The Funge population has given a few headaches in the past as many eggs seem to perish when incubated in water. Dick Cox in BKA newsletter No. 200, April 1982 found that it was more productive to lay eggs on damp peat for 15-21 days before wetting.

Stan Langdon is someone who kept this sp (Fungé population) from May/June 1982. Tanks are well planted with Java moss & Ceratopteris. Stan's mix of 70% rainwater, 20% tapwater & 10% water from an established tank was used. Water temperature 72-78°F. The fish were fed a diet of white worm & flake.
A brown mop was used as a spawning medium. Eggs were water incubated at a temperature of 72°F.

Andy Wyldes in BKA Newsletter No. 310, July 1991 put eggs on damp peat & stored at 70°F, wetting after 20 days. All eggs hatched within 48 hours.
He also observed that this sp. would sometimes occur as having no stripes along the body in both males & females.

Kadlec in BKA newsletter No.248, April 1986, observed that on hatching the fry were 5·5mm in length. At one month 2 horizontal bands will appear on the body & at 7 weeks the young will start to show sexual differences. At 11 weeks first attempts at spawning were observed.

Rudolf Pohlmann on a DKG Chromaphyosemion CD, v5 - 1/2005 reported breeding them better in groups of 3 pairs in water of 200-300µs, pH 6·5, water temperature 22-24°C. He found in hard, alkaline water eggs were prone to fungus.

Although not seen these days names in the Chromaphyosemion group have been doubled, i.e. A.bivittatum bitaeniatum which is not correct. A.bivittatum can only currently be called A.bivittatum & nothing else.
The most often seen population is Funge.
It has been observed that at higher temperatures the fish will hang near the surface.
The fish circulated as 'hollyi' apearred very shy & would not come out of hiding.